1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a storage medium.
2. Related Art
In recent years, there have been many occasions where an IC (Integrated Circuit) card (a smart card) which stores a private key of an individual user is used as a security measure. For example, when a user uses an image forming apparatus, a security application installed in the image forming apparatus requests the user to insert an IC card and input a PIN (Personal Identification Number). Upon receipt of the input, the image forming apparatus authenticates the user, and becomes capable of using the private key stored in the IC card to attach a digital signature to a scanned document, decrypt an encrypted electronic document (an encryption document), or perform other processing.
Such IC cards are categorized into two types of encryption processor equipped IC cards and encryption processor non-equipped IC cards. In addition to having a storage for the private key and the PIN which are generally contained in IC cards, the encryption processor equipped IC cards further include software programs for implementing functions of user authentication, encryption, and other processing according to instructions from a device such as, for example, an image forming apparatus, and a processor for executing the software programs. Further, readout of data such as the private key stored in the storage from the encryption processor equipped IC card to external devices is prohibited.
On the other hand, the encryption processor non-equipped IC cards are IC cards which include only a memory without having an encryption processor.
The form of using the private key stored in an IC card differs depending on the type of IC card. Because the use of encryption processor non-equipped IC cards raises the possibility that the private key will remain in a memory of an external device even after removal of the IC card, it cannot be said that the encryption processor non-equipped IC cards are completely secure.
Contrasted with such an IC card without having the encryption processor, in usage of IC cards which are equipped with the encryption processor, the IC cards internally perform, in response to instructions from an external device, processing such as encryption performed using the private key, and return a result of the processing to the external device.
Thus, because the private key is not read out to the external device, the encryption processor equipped IC cards are more effective in terms of security enhancement.
However, since the private key only exists in the IC card, it leads to a situation where the IC card should remain inserted in the device in an accessible state while the device is performing processing using the private key. When a processing time in an image forming apparatus is obviously estimated to become longer, for example, in a case where an original document having a large number of pages is scanned to create an electronic document, and the electronic document is sent after attaching a digital signature to the electronic document, it is quite conceivable that, after inserting an IC card into the image forming apparatus and completing log-in, a user moves away to perform other business activities leaving the image forming apparatus in a logged in state. When the IC card is left inserted in the image forming apparatus in a user authenticated state as in the case of this example, there arises a possibility that the private key will be illegally used by a third party. Thus, it is attempted to enhance security on the one hand by prohibiting readout of the private key from the IC card, but on the other hand the risk of unauthorized use of the IC card personally owned by the user can arise depending on usage patterns of the IC card.